By Amin Kef Sesay
In a Debate and Quiz competition that took place on the 19th June 2021 at the Karima Complex, Kenema City, Eastern Sierra Leone, teams from Kailahun and Kono were on top but Team Kenema stood firm to defend its home advantage, taking the first positions in the debate and quiz competitions respectively.
The first tournament at close quarters between schools took place in December, January and March for Kenema District, Kailahun district and Kono District systematically.
Government Secondary school and College Secondary School- Kenema, Pendembu Vocational Secondary School and Luawa Islamic Junior Secondary School- Kailahun, Clunny Free Secondary School and Experimental Junior Secondary in Kono were champions at district levels in the debate and quiz competitions separately
After the primaries in all the three ‘K’ Districts in the East, qualifications to the regional stage was skewed to the best debating teams, best quizzing teams, first and second best debaters as well as first and second best quizzers for each district. However, due to falloffs by some invited schools of teams from Kono and Kenema for the quiz, in compositions, each district had three participants in their quiz teams and four debaters in their debating teams accordingly.
In what was considered a gathering for pulsating academic synergy, turned into a sturdy moot warfare as the debaters took not only the judges but the audience by storm with their marvelous performances, reactions and sequential exhibitions of their one-to-one team cases and the temerity with which they manifested their public speaking dexterities. Out of three topics, only one of them was presented by all teams as per the direction of the Honourable judges.
After all the teams had presented their team cases, the results from individual participants of each team were collated. In this episode, Team Kenema with 282 points was declared as champion as against Kailahun which scored 222 points and Kono 212 points.
Emmanuel K. Musa of Team Kenema with an individual score of 83 points was declared the best debater.
The quiz competition was also an attention-grabbing episode as participants from various districts were tough. After several eliminations, Umpha Lamin Koroma of Team Kenema and Yusif Turay of Team Kono met on levelled terms.
Realizing that they have mastered all the spellings in the script that was given to schools prior the competition, it was unanimously agreed that in order to have a winner, they should move away from the script and draft spellings in accordance with their syllabus.
It was during that round that Umpha Koroma manifested that he is a spot-on champion, as he rummaged in front trouncing Turay by a fringe variance, replicating the same feat he had accomplished during the district tournament in Kenema in December last year.
When the tight battle was finally settled and scores collated, Team Kailahun scored 61 points, Kenema 87points and Kono scored 79 points. Team Kenema was declared the winning team and at the individual stage, Umpha scored a high of 43 points against Yusif’s 40, thereby making Umpha the best quizzer.
During the course of the event, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Public Procurement Authority, Chief Ibrahim Brima Swaray, the sole sponsor of the competition was amazed by the varying degree at which the competitors expressed their skills and therefore raised the initial star prize to Twenty Million Leones (Le. 20,000,000) from Ten Million Leones (Le10,000,000).
As the guest speaker of the occasion, the NPPA CEO, Chief Ibrahim Brima Swaray was greeted with a mixture of standing ovation and a deafening applause after he took the centre stage at the Karima Complex.
‘‘We are all gathered here this afternoon to celebrate academic excellence and not the usual pageantry that has beclouded the minds of many young people,’’ Swaray pointed out in his speech speaking to a crowd of about 800 people.
Speaking exclusively to teachers and students, the NPPA boss said one of his ambitions is to see education grow not only in the Eastern Province, where he has started supporting such activities, but throughout the country.
‘‘As long as I continue to live and the New Direction Government continues in power, I will always continue to promote education,” he maintained.
According to him, the Ibrahim Brima Swaray Foundation focuses on education through organizing and sponsoring debate and quiz competitions stating that such will help to broaden the horizons of students and enhance the research capabilities of students too.
He observed that some participants from Kailahun and Kono, who performed extremely at their respective districts, were unable to reproduce their exact performances.
The CEO attributed such a phenomenon to the fact that the competition was staged on a foreign land and they did not travel with cheer givers to boost their morale.
He assured participants from Kailahun and Kono that they will be accompanied by supporters to such competitions should they be organized away from their home grounds and concluded by commending the efforts of the teachers for preparing their candidates with precision.
The competition was climaxed with the presentation of prizes and award of certificates. Team Kenema received the sum of Eight Million Leones (Le. 8,000,000) for winning both the quiz and debate competitions. Team Kailahun received the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Leones and One Million Two Hundred Thousand Leones (Le .800 and 1,200,000) for finishing third and second in the quiz and debate competitions respectively. Team Kono also received the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Leones and One Million Two Hundred Thousand Leones (Le.800 and 1,200,000) for finishing third and second in the debate and quiz competitions accordingly. Umpha Lamin Koroma and Emmanuel K. Musa both of Team Kenema won One Million Leones (Le. 1,000,000) each as best quizzer and best debater.
The NPPA strongman was honoured with an award from pupils of the Eastern Region in recognition of his outstanding support and dedication to the Free Quality Education Program.
